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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Aasra in the Midday (05 June 2013)

Expert speak: Girl, interrupted

With suicide cases on the rise in the country, psychology experts speculate on what could have driven Jiah Khan to end her life

June 05, 2013

Mumbai

Shakti Shetty

Ever since
the news about Jiah Khan started doing the rounds, what’s everyone
thinking about is what could have driven the young actress to end her
life so abruptly. And what’s more alarming is that with every passing
year, there seems to be more and more suicide cases being reported in
the country.Photos: Jiah Khan - Snapshots from the past
In a medical study published in 2012, the estimated number of
suicides in India in 2010 was about 1,87,000. A large proportion of
adult suicide deaths were found to occur between the ages of 15 years
and 29 years. Incidentally, of the five lakh people reported to die of
suicide worldwide every year, 20 per cent are Indians.
While
in an industry where one-upmanship is rife, there is always pressure to
perform. The entertainment industry has always been demanding but to
what extent? We spoke to psychology experts to get their views on what
could have prompted the 25-year-old to take such a drastic step.Missing Plan B?Seema Hingorrany,
clinical psychologist and author, points out the lack of planning in
case of professional disasters. “In a metropolitan city like Mumbai,
depression often goes undetected. There’s a deep sense of loneliness
that even the immediate family or friends can’t see.

Especially, in the case of an actress like Jiah who has seen some
instances of success only to face a downward slide in her acting career.
So what she didn’t have was a Plan B. Unfortunately, she was left with a
Plan A that simply didn’t work.”Photos: Who was Jiah KhanTurns out the toughest part in showbiz is not to bag stardom but to sustain it. Johnson Thomas
of Aasra, a helpline against suicide, says several factors could have
contributed to the actress’ drastic decision. “The young actress in
question did seek stardom and even received some with her debut film.
Later, she was seen in minor roles. Sadly, the film industry seems great
provided you’ve got work and it turns cruel as soon as you run out of
work.”
Clinical psychologist Varkha Chulani
emphasises on the overwhelming possibility of depression. “From a
clinical point of view, we don’t know yet whether it was an impulsive
suicide or a depressive suicide.

The former is a phase where a person decides that life is not
worth living and the latter is a case of elongated hopelessness. In
Jiah’s case, we’ve read about her break-up and struggling career but
then she also reportedly went to audition for a Telugu film. Someone
with a severe case of depression won’t even be able to think of work.”Life’s like thatLata Shenava,
counsellor and educator, takes a different route while explaining the
more deep-rooted problem related to parenting. “There’s something
structurally wrong with the way kids are raised nowadays. For the most
part, they are put in a comfort-oriented environment and expected to
grow strong, which is impossible. As a result, we see youngsters not
being able to face challenges.”